Page 22 of Magical Moonbeam

Twobble’s legs stopped swinging.

“It always feels like it’s right on the edge of memory like I’ve been there, but I haven’t. Or maybe like part of me is already there, waiting.”

There was a long pause.

Then, Twobble said, “You’re not wrong.”

I looked at him, and he wasn’t grinning, smirking, or making light.

His eyes were darker than I’d ever seen them.

“I’ve been there,” he said quietly.

The room shifted around us, something in the magic, in the air, even the cottage, seemed to lean in.

“You’vewhat?”

He nodded, slowly. “Once. A long time ago. Before the Academy sealed up. Before the curse cut the Wards’ strength in half. I was sent on a gathering errand for Nova. She needed something rare. A vine that only grows near the water boundary beyond the eastern edge.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because it’s not a place I like to remember, and I honestly don’t remember much.”

I watched him closely, his expression more fragile than I’d ever seen it.

There was no bravado or jokes surrounding him like usual, just the raw honesty of someone who’d survived something he didn’t quite understand.

“Was it like what I saw?” I asked.

“No,” he said. “It felt worse.”

The words sat heavy between us and a shiver ran through me.

Twobble’s shoulders sank. “It’s a town made of echoes, but they’re not your echoes. They’re something else’s. Something pretending. The buildings look familiar until you realize they aren’t. Everything is just a littleoff.And the streets are quiet, not because they’re empty, but because whatlivesthere doesn’t make noise like we do.”

My skin prickled as my mind whirled with familiarity. Shadowick was always just a littleoff.

“And the cold…” He shivered. “It’s not the kind of cold that makes your teeth chatter. It’s the kind that getsinside your magic.It dulls your spark, but you don’t notice it at first. It seeps in, slow and greedy, like it wants to keep you.”

I sat back in my chair, absorbing that. The sense of dread I’d felt in my visions and illusions was confirmed and real.

“But you made it back.”

“Barely,” he said. “I left something behind. I don’t know what. But I felt it as soon as I crossed back through the trees. Like a thread had snapped.”

He looked up at me, his eyes sharp now. “So if you’re going, you need to anchor yourself. Not just magically.Emotionally.You need to know who you are and why you came. Or Shadowick will try to tell youfor you.”

I shivered, pulling the blanket from the back of the chair across my lap.

“I keep thinking maybe I’m strong enough now,” I murmured. “But I don’t know what I’ll find if I go.”

Twobble slid off the table and padded across the floor. He climbed up onto the bench beside me and patted my hand with a little goblin paw.

“Here’s what I know,” he said. “You’ve woken an Academy. You’ve softened a wolf shifter. You’ve survived your mother’s judgment and Stella’s magical tea. You’re made of stronger stuff than you think.”

I gave a quiet laugh. “Stella’s tea night was no small feat.”

“Exactly.” He leaned closer, lowering his voice. “But even strong people get pulled under if they go in alone.”